Every Christmas, everyone expects to experience a joyful celebration of Christ being born in Bethlehem. Christmas stories for children become popular for kids to listen to and learn about values they can treasure as they grow.
Linda DeGree’s The Spirit of Christmas is Peace is a book featuring a play about the true meaning of Christmas. In the story, an alien learns about the idea of Christmas through a chorus of children and a band of angels in heaven. The play is intended for a class of 35 students.
Christmas stories for children become popular during the Christmas season as these stories set the wintery atmosphere of the season and the warmth of home. As kids enjoy the season out of school, the parents and guardians teach values to kids through catchy stories and plays.
Just like Linda DeGree’s book, other stories emerge to be shared with young hearts and teach moral lessons. Here are classic Christmas stories for children that are always popular among young learners during the Christmas season:
The Christmas Story (1952) by Jane Werner Watson
(For children 2-5 years old)
This classic tale chronicles the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. It tells how the angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her she would conceive the Son of God, Jesus. This book engages young learners through illustrations and the poetic flow of words.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1939) by Robert L. May
(For children 2-5 years old)
This story follows Rudolph, one of Santa’s nine reindeer. Rudolph has a luminous red nose that makes the other reindeer call him names. As the story goes, Rudolph learned that being different from the other reindeer made him unique. Santa then let Rudolph lead the sleigh to light the way.
This tale is one of those classic Christmas stories for children that teach the kids acceptance of their flaw and use it to their advantage. Popularized as a song in 1949 and a stop-motion animation on TV in 1964, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a classic that people retell every year for the Christmas season.
A Christmas Carol (1843) by Charles Dickens
(for children 10 and up)
The Christmas season is never complete without a retelling of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It is one of the most popular Christmas stories for children. It follows Ebenezer Scrooge as he is visited by the ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, showing him the outcome of his actions towards the people celebrating Christmas. This classic tale teaches moral values and the true meaning of Christmas.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957) by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel
(for children 3-7 years old)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is one of those Christmas stories for Children that follows a grumpy protagonist, much like Scrooge from A Christmas Carol. In this story, the cranky and solitary creature called the Grinch always attempts to thwart or tamper the Whoville’s plans for Christmas by stealing gifts and destroying decorations. The Grinch later accepted Christmas as he realized the joy of the season was not actually about money, gifts, and decorations.
As a Dr. Seuss story, the tale comes in a rhyming pattern that engages the learners about the Christmas season.
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816) by Earnest Theodor Amadeus Hoffman
(for children 5-8 years old)
This story is most popularly known as a ballet piece. What makes it more amazing is that it is a 19th-century Christmas story by E.T.A. Hoffman. It follows Marie Stahlbaum as she discovers that her Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive on Christmas Eve. The Nutcracker awakens to defeat the evil Mouse King who tries to rule the magical kingdom of dolls.
Children who are into ballet are mostly familiar with the story, especially when they hear the piece popularized by Tchaikovsky.
Christmas is a season of love, peace, and family. It is also the season when people retell the story of the birth of Jesus to teach moral lessons to young learners. After all, Jesus is the reason for the season.
The Spirit of Christmas is Peace by Linda DeGree is one of those Christmas children stories that provides engagement to young learners through a play. It helps the children learn more about Christmas through the curiosity of an alien and the guidance of God’s angels.
If you want to teach children about the spirit of Christmas through play, buy Linda DeGree’s The Spirit of Christmas today!